The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts will hold its second annual international awards ceremony in Los Angeles in late January.

SYDNEY — David O. Russell’sSilver Linings Playbook leads the nominations for the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) International Awards, with five nods, while Lincoln and Zero Dark Thirty follow closely behind with four nominations apiece, AACTA president Geoffrey Rush announced on Tuesday.

The AACTA International awards, which will be presented in Los Angles in late January in the same week that the Academy’s native awards for Australian film and television are handed out, recognize international achievements in film in five categories including best film, best direction, best screenplay, best actor and best actress.

Ben Affleck’s Argo received three nominations, and Les Misérables and Life of Pi each have two nominations each.

“In this, the second year of the AACTA International Awards, we’re delighted to build on the huge success of our inaugural event held in L.A. in January 2012. This year’s nominees include actors, directors and screenwriters who truly represent international excellence – from French actresses Marion Cotillard and Emmanuelle Riva, to Taiwanese director Ang Lee, and from British actor Daniel Day-Lewis, to US icons Joaquin Phoenix, Steven Spielberg and Quentin Tarantino,” Rush said.

Australia is represented by Hugh Jackman (Les Misérables), Naomi Watts (The Impossible) and Nicole Kidman (The Paperboy), and writer-director Ben Lewin has been nominated for best direction for The Sessions.

“As the Australian Academy engages in the international Awards conversation, it’s brilliant to see Australian performers and practitioners nominated alongside international talent. We look forward with great anticipation to the announcement of the winners of the AACTA International in L.A., the epicentre of international film,” Rush added.

Damian Trewhella, CEO of AACTA added that it was also gratifying to see the talents of so many Australian performers in the nominated international productions – Russell Crowe in Les Misérables, Jacki Weaver in Silver Linings Playbook, and Joel Edgerton in Zero Dark Thirty.

Trewhella said: “with a burgeoning industry and with Australian performers and filmmakers consistently acknowledged as among the world’s best by other international screen organisations such as AMPAS and BAFTA, it is important that the Australian screen industry could equally recognise the talents of their international peers through the Australian Academy’s International Awards.”